Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #628 (Story 1)

Background

Part Two of Roger Stern and Lee Weeks "Something Can Stop The Juggernaut!" Seems the person who landed Juggy unconscious in the woods last issue has found he and Spider-man in the underground armory--Captain Universe.

Story 'Vengence is Mine!'

In the underground armory, Captain Universe strikes, firing a blast of energy at Spider-man, who tries talking it out with the Captain to no avail. Universe finally decides to share that Juggernaut ruined his life, and that he’s been chosen to fulfill a higher purpose. Spider-man says what Cap is doing won’t please the Enigma Force, which catches Cap off guard; he pulls the platform the unconscious Juggernaut lies on, and smashes through the wall with it and Spider-man.

The platform, slowed by Spider-man’s webbing, crashes into the Jersey Palisades. The platform is destroyed, but Juggy is of course intact. Captain Universe flies overhead, and Spidey webs his eyes, and jumps on him for a ride through the air. Spider-man clings to the bottom of a news copter, thinking he’s out of his league and that it’s a job for Avengers or the Fantastic Four. Cap catches up with Spidey, who drops into a freefall; catches himself in a web-swing and arcs himself into speeding traffic, with Captain Universe in pursuit.

Meanwhile, a search unit has found Juggernaut where he crash-landed with the platform. Juggy wakes up, conks the searcher’s heads together, and crafts a new helmet for himself out of the platform restraints. He hears over one of the search party member’s radios that Spidey is being chased south of the George Washington Bridge by an “unidentified flying man”. Juggy begins his walk to pursue them.

Captain Universe catches up with Spider-man, flinging him through the air through the wall of a gymnasium on a pier. Spidey swings out and Captain Universe continues to give chase. Spidey lures him to a construction site, when his spider-sense goes off sharply, incapacitating him. The ground is shuddering—Cap takes a steel girder and wraps it around Spider-man, staking it into the ground. He goes subterranean—the enigma force begins to talk to him, guiding him to repair fractures in the tectonic plates, but gets distracted by sensing something above.

Juggernaut appears in front of Spider-man—he wrenches the girder loose, freeing Spidey, telling him that he owed him one. Cap flies up through the ground, and starts wailing on Juggernaut, who fights back and quickly gets the upper hand. Spidey tries to intervene, but Juggernaut holds them both off. Captain Universe blasts them both away, saying he’s going to make them suffer like they’ve made him suffer.

General Comments

This issue consists mostly of Spider-man running from Captain Universe and Juggernaut lying comatose. Not a lot to go on here, as we know very little as to why this iteration of Captain Universe has a beef with the Juggernaut. Very little to go on—the artwork is grand, and Stern gets some moderately funny dialogue in, but little else is going on. The issue also ends a bit abruptly, making me think this was intended to be a two-parter, but was stretched to three; perhaps to fill scheduling gaps?

Overall Rating

I can’t find much fault with this issue other than there’s not much happening. Spidey running from Captain Universe is fun enough, and Stern knows how to spin an old-school yarn that makes you feel as if you’re right there in the action, but I would’ve liked to see more of Juggernaut up and about. This one feels like a three-webber.

Footnote

Spider-man himself wielded the Enigma Force years ago during the Cosmic Spider-Man/Acts of Vengeance story.